One-piece drag-line bucket



Z. l, 9 J m .i||l l, 1, 0V 5 1. ,.m A T y mi 3 wm im m v M L :w m w v MLZ I l m n. 0 e 2 m w n @g2 .a idaeo @m a m m v @-ieelob:@Vw; W. M H o GQ N Y Il 1 5. 2 3 5 Z .2, 6 J 3 J & 5 2 IMIIWWW l .M 045 m vJJ J JPatented May l, 1928.A

UNITED s'ra'rlaisy 1,668,166 PATENT .OFFICE.

WALTER S. MGKEE AND WESLEY G. NICHOLS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS,BY DIRECT AND MESNE vASSIGNMENTS, OF ONE-HALF T0 AMERICAN MANGANESESTEEL COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE, ANI) ONE.

HALF TO SAID WALTER S. MUKEE.

omi-Pinon DRAG-LINE Bucxn'r.

Application led January 11, 1922. Serial No. 528,498.

This invention relates to drag line buckets for excavating purposes,which are so constructed thatI when dragged in contact with material tobe excavated` the bowl of the bucket will become filled and the bucket.may then be lifted, conveyed away to a point of discharge, and itsposition accurately controlled to prevent waste of its contained'material while it is in transit.

Heretofore buckets of this kind have been built up of steel partsriveted together, and had applied thereto cuttingl lips, glide rails,wearing strips, etc., which have also been secured in place by riveting.But this method 0f constructing such buckets has met with theobjections, among others, that the built up' construction does notdevelop t-he extreme strength required in buckets of this kind; thatangles and corners within the bucket prevent it from shedding its loadas quickly as is desired; and that the rivets which secure the partstogether soon become worn away to such an extent as to destroy theintegrity of the bucket and permit 'its various attachments to drop off.

It has been proposed to produce as single manganese steel castings thebodies of excavating flippers which are essentially of tubularconstruction, and the walls'of which become mutually self sustaining inwithstanding the stresses incurred in cooling and in use of the dipper,also excavating buckets forming parts of the endless chains which areapproximately sectors of spheres and also have their constituent wallsstanding in mutually sustaining relation: but it has never been regardedas practicable to produce, as ay single casting. a drag line bucket, andparticularly drag line buckets of very large dimensions, for instance,those of several tons capacityyand particularly have these diiiicultiesbeen regarded as insurmountable in the casting of a bucket of this typefrom manganese steel. which alone has suicient resistance to erosion inuse to justify production of an implement that must be discarded as awhole when worn out in any of its important parts, and must be of suchdesign `as to admit of thorough heat' treatment. A drag line bucket isessentially an elongated bowl comprising a bottom and but threeconfining walls upstanding therefrom, mainly at the two sides and rearend, thereby leaving the top and forward end open and defined by freeand unsustained e ges of the walls; moreover, the bottom must functionas a digging instrumentality, and the entire force of driving theimplement into the mass to be excavated and dragging and lifting theseveral tons of accumulated load must all be transmitted to the bowlthrough the upper forward portions of lts two sides. It has beenproposed to brace the forward ends of dredge buckets of smalld1mens1ons, fabricated from sheets or plates, by arranglng` a separatelyformed U-shaped metal plate across the top of the open end and securingthe same to the side walls of the bucket; but the suggest-ion of thiselement affords no help in solving the problem of supplying such amember as an integral element of a cast metal drag bucket, andparticularly one of large dimensions.

The present invent-ion successfully solves the problem of making in asingle piece casting a drag line bucket of large capacity, and theinvention consists primarily in casting the bottom, side walls, and therear end wall of an open front drag line bucket in one single piece witha controlling yoke connecting the forward ends of its slde walls, andarching the open end of the bucket; the arching yoke being so trussedand of such substantial design that, lindert-he stresses incident tocooling and transmissionv of loads in use, it not only sustains itselfbut imparts substantial strength to the body or bowl of the bucket. Thetrussing or strengtheningl elements are in the form of ribssubstantially perpendicular to the portions which they strengthen,extending in intersecting directions and merging from the sides of thearch or yoke into the sides of the bowl so as to distribute the stressesfrom one portion to the other. as stated, and at the same time renderingthe reinforced portion of the structure throughout of proper dimensionsfor successful application of the heat treatment required for manganesesteel. Collateral features of the invention consist in( providingr thebowl of the bucket with strengthening ribs traversing the bottom and oneor more of the vertical sides; said ribs preferably extendingcontinuously from the open front, longitudinally along the bottom andthen up the rear end wall; also providing side extensions forward of theopen front end and uniting'these side extensions by an upper arch; theside extensions and arch being provided with external ribs preferablyextending longitudinally of the bucket as well as vertically of thesides and transversely of the bucket across the arch in order to lendnecessary strength to these members while'still leaving them in properform to receive heat treatment necessary to reduce brittleness of thecasting and facilitate the attachment of connections by which the bucketis to be controlled. The ribs are so distributed t-hat they will takecare of all strains to which the bucket is subjected, at the same timeconsume a minimum amount of metal, and avoid lending excessive weight tothe bucket while maintaining its greatest possible strength-a resultwhich is accomplished to better advantage with a one-piece cast metalbucket than with the built up type of bucket.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectionof a bucket embodying the several features of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a. plan view of the bucket with a ortion thereof in sectionon the line 2"-2" o Figure 1.

1 represents the bowl provided with open end 2, bottom 3, side walls 4,and rear end 5. The side walls 4 are constructed with extensions 6 lyinglongitudinally forward of the open front end 2. Forward extensions 6 areconnected by an arch 7 which serves as a yoke through which to connectsaid side extensions with one of the controlling connections which willbe attached by rivets entering the holes 8. The bowl is provided withexternal strengthening ribs 9 which extend from points on the bottomnear the front end, longitudinally rearward, and thence upward to apoint near the top of the rear wall 5, thus traversing continuously boththese portions of the bowl. These ribs may be of any desired number.Four of them are shown` and the metal of the bowl is preferably groovedas shown at 9a along corresponding lines of the inner surface of thebowl so as to develop an effect similar to corrugation. and therebyrestrict the mass of metal required to form the bowl, as well as toleave the metal more uniformly responsive to heat treatment necessary todevelop the proper tensile strength and resistance to shocks that mightotherwise fracture the metal. The outermost ribs 9 are preferably formedwith integral fins 10 that steady the bucket against tipping, and alsoagainst deflection in its course of travel under impact against largesolid masses of material: and these ribs'are connected transversely atan intermediate horizontal line of the back wall 45 by means of abracing rib 11. The upper edge of the bowl merges into a bead or flange12 that strengthens the side and rear walls against torsional strains,

and the extension 6 and arch 7 are formed with external short ribs 13and 14 extendin in the direction of the longitudinal axis o the scraperat spaced intervals throughout the sides and arch, which ribs areintersected by integral bracing ribs 15 extending vertically up thesides and across the scraperl with the arch. Not only do the ribs 13, 14and 15 lend tensile strength to the members on which they are formed,with a minimum amount of metal, but they permit proper heat treatment ofthe metal; moreover, they form pockets, such as 16, to admit plates andrivets, through means of which to attach the holding connection thatprevents the bucket from tifplping during conveyance .from the point ooading to the point of discharge.

Formed integrally with the side walls 4 are seats 17 for the trunnionbearings 18 of the hanging rail, while extension 6 will be formed withopenings 19, preferably bushed to receive the drag line connections. Thesides 4 will also be recessed, as shown at 20, to receive the cuttinglip 21, that will be attached through means of rivets 22 in the usualway. Teeth 23 will also be applied to the bucket in use in any suitable`known manner.

The bottom ribs 9 take the place of glide rails or wearing strips whichhave generally been riveted in place upon a bucket of this kind, andbeing, in the present instance, formed integrally with the bowl, cannever become loose by the wearing away of securing rivets, which is anot infrequent occurrence in built up buckets.

It will be observed that by casting the bucket in one piece, asdescribed, a very advantageous form can be imparted to it. For instance,the curved connecting webs 6 can be introduced between the arch and thesides of the bucket in a manner to greatly strengthen both thesemembers, and the lines which join the bottom with the sides and with therear wall can be made in the form of curves instead of angular, as inbuilt up buckets.

We claim:

1. A drag line bucket, comprising, in an integral steel casting, adigging bottom, confining walls upstanding from the sides and rear endof said bottom, leaving an open front end and top, and a yoke integrallyunited with the upper front portions of the side walls, constructed withreinforcing ribs extending across the yoke as well as 1n the directionof the longitudinal axis of the bucket and merging into the side walls.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a onepiece metal drag line bucketformed with an open front end, sides extending forwardly beyond saidfront end, and an arch joining the upper portions of said sides andproviding a holding yoke for the bucket; said bucket being constructedwith ribs continuing up the extended ortions of the sides and across thearch, an with intersecting ribs integral with the continuing ribs, andsome of which extend rearwardly along the sides of the bucket.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a one piece metal drag line bucketformed with an open front end, sides extending forwardly beyond saidfront end, and an arch joining the upper portions of said sides androviding a holding yoke for the bucket; sald sides and arch beingconstructed with integral loggitudinal and transverse strengthening r1s.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a one piece metal drag line bucketformed with formin ockets which permit heat treatmerlilt o t c metal ofthe side extensions and arc constructed with Signed at Chicago,Illinois, this 29th day i of December, 1921.

WALTER S. MCKEE. WESLEY G. NICHOLS.

